Young at Art is our district show where 7-12 graders compete in several categories of art . The amount of talent at this show is phenomenal. My dear hearts did fabulous with 16 ribbons! Below are some pictures of the event. BEWARE: There are a lot of pictures!!!!!I hope it inspires you like it did for me. Often when I create a new lesson I am inspired by artwork first. I can't wait to tie in some of these lesson ideas. Gallery one is what come of my students did and gallery two are projects that were inspiring at Jr./Sr. High level.

Gallery One:

Gallery Two:

This project I have attempted 3 years in a row now, all have been tweaked so it feels like a new lesson every time. First with wood, then colored pencils, trading/not trading, etc. You get the picture.. I adjust ALL the time. This time I think I nailed how I want the introduction of the assignment to go. Like I have said many times before I like to give the students a little "appetizer" assignment so they can get a better idea of what we are doing.

What the heck is an exquisite corpse?

This is a game the surrealist used to play where they would only see parts of the paper and had to create an image that would tie into the next one only using measurements. The students will be creating 3 bodies of sorts, using measurements then either switching with each other or among their three to create their own unique exquisite corpse. I introduce Surrealism and the game and we started with this appetizer project giving them 5-7 minutes drawing a section then switching with a table mate.

I was surprised at how quiet my room was and how into it they got! I told them to not let their partners see what they will be doing as it will be more of a surprise. I ended up with students getting up and working at different tables, on the slab roller or even under the table. Here is some pictures from that.

In the next few days I will be letting the students choose a drawing of their choice then draw two from a hat to incorporate for the other two bodies. The hat choices include a robot, chicken, zombie, wizard, wild thing, etc. They can tweak it however they want though, so you can bet zombie wizard was definitely on the table.

This year is the last year Arizona has AIMS. Not to say we won't have something new and exciting I am sure for next year's testing season, but it is always a not so fun week in the art room. Having to read from a script, literally watching students test for 2 hours a day for 4 days... I don't know about you but not my idea of a good time.

Friday, however was a GREAT day. It was cookie color wheel day! It is by far one of my favorite days in the art room. Yes it's a little extra work on my part, and the kids get a little noisy but they have a good time and are learning all at the same time! Always remember to have a code word to get their attention. Mine was Banana. I said the word and they stop in their tracks! Here are some pictures from a fun day. Click HERE if you want the details on the HOW- TO. Have a great day!

SO this was inspired by my mentor. She started this project so i cannot take full credit, except I made it a semester long project for my kiddos to do and have a power point and lesson plan to got with it now. Every student had a pair of jeans (whether they brought it in, or I went and got them a pair). Every student had to create a journal with the first few pages talking about themselves and their likes and dislikes. THEN the Jeans travel among the class to different students to read, and interpret the journal and create something visual on the jeans. Using in-text clues. After students worked on the pair of jeans they wrote back to the owner about what they did and why they enjoyed working on their jeans. I love tying in literacy when I can!

Oh Tough Mudder, how you kicked my butt. I am proud I finished. A year ago I never thought I could do anything for 12 miles, let alone include ginormous obstacles. I had an amazing team, I am truly blessed. Here are some pics from the event:

Here is a few snapshots of the actual obstacles. Looking back on it now I am like how the heck did I convince myself these were OK at the time?!

We were the Muddy Bunch, pictures and everything on the back just like the show intro (The Brady Bunch). The next day I felt as though I had been hit by a train and a few (actually A LOT)scrapes and large, dark bruises to show for it. It really was so much fun though and I can't wait for next year! More weights, pullups, ad push ups for this girl! This week's topic of discussion is why do you bruise so easily? Why would you sign up for punishment? Are you insane? Yes, yes I am! Oh Jr. High students with no filter...

Getting into my busy season.... just kidding it's always the busy season! But I did want to share a recipe that I took from Campbell's and changed it slightly. It is so fast and easy and it's good for a potluck and hot or cold! I have used it as a side or main dish and it is such an inexpensive meal for a crowd!

Ingredients:

1 Jar of Pesto Sauce

1 Can of Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 Can of Cream of Chicken Soup

1/2 Cup of milk (I use skim)

1 Box of Bowtie Noodles

Optional: cooked chicken breast... not necessary. I have even use shrimp or nothing at all. It is that good on it's own!

Masks are one of my favorite projects to do with my intro classes. The possibilities are endless and the sky's the limit! I know I have already put a post briefly describing the project, but every year they are so different, I had to share again!

These are the forms I use. They are oh so helpful. Before I used to have the students make a form from wadded newspaper, but these save so much time and lets the kids focus on the creative aspect of it and less frustration of getting the form just right.

A couple things to remember with these forms though... and trust me this is from experience:

What to do and NOT to do with mask forms:- DO use damp paper towels on the form before putting the slab on them. I have had students forget this and they end up have to redo the entire project because it will not separate. It's OK if it hangs off the edge. The kids will want to tear it but I tell them it's a little handle to lift their mask out.<----- This is what a covered form should roughly look like.

DO NOT:- Let the masks stay on the form past the point of leather hard. My first year making masks with these I did this. I thought I would just let it slowly dry on the without thinking. To my surprise one morning several... and by several I mean almost an entire class had cracked masks. Duh moment of the day... clay shrinks folks... Take the mask off the form when it's leather hard! If its a little flimsy wad up some newspaper and just put it under the mask while it dries to keep shape.

And Make sure:Kids are creating spots for air to escape! With mask kids get creative and want to put horns, gigantic cheeks, or a giant eye. Remember to have them hollow them out, and or create an air hole. Nothing is worse when students works so hard, to find out the chin on their on their mask to exploded off.

Explosions are bad... very bad for the students project and those around. If pieces do break off, I will tape it to the mask until I can adhere it... so pieces don't walk off.